Long hiatus there, but what can you do?
Our RPG group found ourselves deciding what to pursue next as Starfinder did not really hit the mark and we settled on Rise of the Runelords. Paizo's first official Adventure Path, and from what I hear one of the better ones.
We decided to go a bit old school with our rolls to see what we got. 4D6 drop the lowest. No moving your rolls around. 1st is Strength, 2nd Dex, etc and ended up with an interesting assortment. I ended up with (before modifiers);
Str: 17
Dex: 12
Con: 17
Int: 7
Wis: 10
Cha: 14
So I figured that looked like a typical hulking barbarian to me. The charisma of 14 got me thinking however and instead of going pure barbarian I went into Bloodrager, which is a hybrid of barbarian and sorcerer. Since in our Pirate game our current GM had done a Dwarf Barbarian with an Earthbreaker, and I had decided to run Earthbreaker I went for Half-Orc instead and pumped up the Str by 2.
Doing up a quick backstory rolling in Ultimate Campaign I ended with;
Kumak Half Orc Bloodrager
Human mother who has never talked about his orc heritage, as far back as he can remember she was already remarried to a human farmer who had 3 sons and 1 daughter from his late wife. No issues in the family, the husband loved them all like they were his own and no issues with brothers and sister. Local lord (Jarrus) is fighting a campaign against nearby Shoanti tribe,raising taxes both food and money on the farmers to pay his army and when his youngest son Endrev comes of age the son decides to join the war. Conscription comes by and Kumak being of massive build even as a teen volunteers to keep his family safe. In their first foray the young lords regiment is supposed to guard a pass to prevent fleeing barbarians from escaping, but seeing a chance for personal glory he orders his regiment to attack. The Shoanti seeing a now unguarded means of escape begin surging en mass. The entire exchange lasts maybe 30 minutes but is a bloody one. Kumak for the first time feels his Orcish heritage rise up and in a rage slaughters dozens of Shoanti. The regiment that once numbered about 150 strong has maybe 20 that will live the night. Kumak while surveying the dead hears whimpers and finds the lord hiding beneath bodies of the slain, not a scratch on him. As the lords father is riding up, Kumak makes the deal that he will tell no one how he found the lord cowering beneath the dead if the lord agrees to have the farmers tax lowered to its pre-war rate, even if it means he pay the difference himself. With moments before his father arriving the young lord agrees, while his father surveying the landscape knows the truth of what happened there, the official reports reflect well upon Endrev's conduct. Jarrus declares that he needs his son close, so the remainder of Endrevs short lived regiment is disbanded. Kumak returns home and remains for a few months, to be sure that the taxes collected have been lowered. Wanting to explore this raw power and aggression he can feel Kumak leaves home, to find work where he may. Which brings him to Sandpoint, on the day of the Goblin attack;
Session 1:
Arriving in the town of Sandpoint it is arrayed for a festival to dedicate its new church. Games, prizes and food are all on display. After some delaying speeches the fun is finally begun. Kumak looks around and spots a well armored human whose size seems to rival his own. Sizing each other up, they each hear that the hammer game has opened up and decide to let their muscles do the talking. Each are given a heavy nail about a foot long and a heavy one handed hammer. Their first swing sees Kumaks nail driven halfway in with a solid blow while the humans makes a respectable third of the way in. The second blow Kumak only manages a glance but still sees his nail almost driven to the end, however the human lands a solid blow and is only inches behind. Not wanting to be shown up Kumak lets out a bellowing roar and feels his muscles swell, the nail is driven clean through the heavy wooden board and the board itself is shattered. Panting Kumak looks to the human who arches an eye brow then nods. Kumak laughs and holds out his hand, taking it they introduce themselves, his name is Tiberius, and he wants to know if Kumak would join him for the ale drinking contest.
Villister an elderly clergyman from Sandpoint enters a trivia contest where he places well but is outshone by a young female newcomer named Susan, who not only answers the questions but unprompted provides ancillary information not related to the questions. Susan is declared the winner and Villister suggests they find another activity to let some others win at trivia for a while.
Kumak and Tiberius sit down to the ale drinking contest. There is a progression of drinks beginning with a lighter lager and working its way to a rich dark ale. Kumak makes into an early lead easily downing the drinks. Tiberius forces too much drink down at once and finds it coming back up, covering himself and splattering on Kumak. Kumak reaches the penultimate drink when he hiccups while drinking and causes himself to lose his breakfast. Tiberius continues towards victory but Kumak concedes, Tiberius eyes the pie eating contest but Kumak declines opting to wash himself in a nearby horse trough.
Villister and Susan partake in a game of hide and seek in a nearby barn. Susan finds a well hidden position in the rafters while Villister finds a cozy well shaded position in some hay. Down to the wire Susan sees she is about to be caught but spots what she feels is the only other contestant and using her Mage Hand makes a noise by them causing them to be caught first. After confirming the count again the officiant declares there must have been a miscount and as Susan was the last found she is the winner. Looking around Susan does not see Villister and after searching the barn finally discovers the old man having fallen asleep in his hiding spot.
More officials begin giving speeches when all 4 notice something small dart under a table and a flash of metal as something is about to kill a dog, its a goblin. Kumak enters a rage and charges at the goblin as 4 more appear and pandemonium breaks out. The goblins alternate between attacking, eating food, throwing fish at each other, and setting anything on fire. The four make quick work of the nearby 9 or so goblins. Hearing a commotion from up the street they run to investigate. Seeing a goblin riding a mangy dog threatening a local dog protecting a cowering man Kumak charges and with his last reservoir of rage caves in the head of the goblin with one swing. Tiberius accounts for another goblin, Susan and Villister together dispatch one, and a final goblin making a hasty retreat is taken down by the no longer cowering man.
End Session
Thoughts: The session went well, Tiberius and Susan's players were new meets so it was held at a local store as our host would prefer to meet someone before bringing them to his place. Both players (a boyfriend/girlfriend team) seemed to enjoy it and were very pleasant. The session was only about 1.5-2 hours long, not great considering I find our usual 4 hour sessions lean enough as it is but there it is. As they are new to this we elected to not use battlemat/minis and did combat as a much more free form thing.
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